MY TURN: This reprieve should benefit Bama copydesk

Friday

Nov 23, 2012 at 12:01 AM

Nick Saban and the Alabama football team have been given a reprieve — another chance — to stave off elimination from the BCS Championship.

By Oscar Tucker

Grandpa, what is a reprieve?”“Hmmmm. Well, son, a reprieve is — hmmmm. A reprieve is sort of like a second chance. Only thing is, when you get a reprieve, you’re still not out of the woods. Hmmmm, you remem-ber when you and your brother drove my pickup through the garage door, through the wall and into the backyard, shredding the henhouse and pigpen? Do you remember that?“Yes sir. I ain’t gonna ever forget that. I thought you wuz gonna shoot us.”“Well, you remember I didn’t tan your hide with my razor strap, because I might’ve killed both of y’all at the time. But, after I cooled down, I promised to rip your hide from stem to stern if you come near my truck again. You remember that?”“Yessir, I haven’t forgotten.”“You see, when I didn’t bust y’all’s butt right there on the spot, that was like a reprieve. I didn’t wipe out the possibility of letting y’all off for costing me almost a thousand dollars. All I did was put it off for a while; in other words, I gave y’all sort of a second chance; you know, a chance to straighten up and fly right, and stay out of devilment. You got me, boy?”“Yes sir. Don’t you worry, you gave me a reprieve, and I ain’t never going to do that no more.”“You better not, because if you do, you know what you got coming.” I was the recipient of that reprieve many years ago.Coach Nick Saban and the Alabama football team are in a similar position. They have been given a reprieve — another chance — to stave off elimination from the BCS Championship. They know what they have coming if they straighten up, fly right, keep their wits about them and play Nick Saban Alabama football. Sometimes a defeat brings out the best in us. The Nov. 5, 2011, 9-6 overtime loss to LSU at home brought out the best in Saban and the Crimson Tide. Saban used the loss and his inspirational skills to get laser-like focus on what was at stake and what it took to achieve their ultimate goal. The result was the 2011 National Championship.Elections and football games can give winners the occasion to bask in the bright light of victory; or hurl losers into the black abyss of defeat where, it is to be hoped, they can lick their wounds, adjust their strategies and prepare for the next skirmish. The Texas A&M defeat was a bitter pill for the Alabama Nation to swallow. However, with class and graciousness, Coach Saban publicly took full responsibility for his team’s inept performance and praised Coach Kevin Sumlin and his team for a great effort.In the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, when candidate Barack Obama was defeated by Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, Obama gave a rousing inspirational speech. He praised candidate Clinton, thanked the people of that state and resolved to continue fighting for what he believed. Of course, Saban and candidate Obama were disappointed, but they did not give way to bitterness. Winners and losers can emerge from their circumstances with class or acrimony. Mitt Romney was the embodiment of class with his concession speech to President Obama on the night of Nov. 6. Sadly, since then, he has descended into the abyss of peevishness and spitefulness; proof that defeat can bring out the worst in us.The No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the BCS standings were defeated last Saturday, giving renewed expectations to SEC fans everywhere. I am confident as, a member of the Bama Nation, that Saban and the Tide will use this “reprieve” to greatly intensify their usual “Saban focus” on winning the SEC Championship and in due course the National Championship. Thankfully, the Republican Party is using its “reprieve” to renounce Romney’s petulance and is trying to balm its wounds and reach out to all Americans, including single women, gays, immigrants and the 47 percent denigrated by Romney.

Oscar Tucker is a retired Tuscaloosa educator. Readers can email him at otucker@comcast.net.

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